Today while we are all going crazy for the next best and greatest rifle to enter the marketplace, there is a quiet following hearkening back to the grace and lines of the Pennsylvania Long Rifle and a resurgent interest in both hunting with them and proudly displaying them as works of art. The word “Rifle” refers to the lands and grooves placed in the barrel to impart spin and stability to the bullet. It was the frontier rifleman that was a key part of the Revolution but could not be the crack shots they were without the inventive engineering of those Pennsylvania German immigrant gunsmiths who understood the physics behind stable bullet flight and repeat accuracy. Armed with hand tools and improvised lathes these craftsmen created a rifle of precision and beauty. The most common calibers were 45 and 50 cal and shot round ball with precision.

There were  several Pennsylvania Rifle-makers and one of the best was Jacob Dickert my research tells me.

I am no expert here just a lover of fine craftsmanship and  history when I see it.

Jacob Dickert’s Pennsylvania  long rifle making was prolific enough as to arm frontiersmen in the American Revolution with many Dickert Long Rifles. It is news to me that he was a Military Contractor to the Continental Army making his famous Dickert Rifle.

A thing of great beauty, isn’t it, but a weapon that could kill out to 250 or more yards in the hands of a crack shot Frontiersman and Continental Army soldier.

From the website: http://www.customflintlock.com/dickert_history.php

Quote:

“Its nickname was “Kentucky long rifle” and was carried by the “Over Mountain Men,” who most every member of this little army was equipped with a Deckard rifle, a tomahawk, and a scalping knife, in which they were experts. Giving good account of themselves at the battle at King’s Mountain, North Carolina, in which backwoods hunters defeated Major Ferguson’s professional British soldiers. This being a major turning point in the Revolutionary War. Most of these men came mounted and armed with their Deckard rifles and no bayonets. This rifle was to play a significant role in many upcoming battles. The Dickert/Deckard rifle was also used in defense against the Mexican infantry who surprised the outnumbered Texans in a pre-dawn assault against the Alamo fortress walls in 1836 and one is on display in the Long Barracks Museum in San Antonio. It is said that Colonel David Crockett used a Deckard rifle in combat at the battle of the Alamo.” Unquote.

These rifles were great for hunting game like deer and bear as well as making a great squirrel gun. More to come…

Good Shooting! Good Hunting!